permalink w/o mod_rewrite error (4 posts)

My web hoster is using Windows 2003 server, therefore it does not support .htaccess files. They support .php so the wordpress works great. except - the rewrite stuff does not work. I tried putting this in under the permalink:
/index.php/archives/%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%post_id%/
But, when you click on an archive link or something that would use this, i get a plain white screen that says: No input file specified.
do i need to modify a 404 file? does it need to say:
/index.php?archives/%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%post_id%/
instead? what do i need to do now?
Thanks so much. new WordPress user and i'm really liking it so far, just need to get this fixed!!!
hoster is http://www.hostony.com

Your permalink should work just fine on any web server that handles PATH_INFO. All of them should, although in some cases it must be turned on explicitly. Ask your host if they accommodate PATH_INFO.
Also, your hosting company offers Linux plans for the same price. If you can't get going on the Windows server, see if you can move over to a Linux server.

it appears i may have to use the linux option instead of the windows option. yes, hostony has great pricing for linux packages, however i already have some domains setup under my windows hosting plan that use ASP. Moving to linux hosting may mess up those sites. i'd have to purchase another hosting plan. BTW, hostony allows more bandwidth and space for the same price as dreamhost. 3gig storage and 80gb transfer a month! Anyway, back on topic. I think a custom 404 page would probabally do the trick if i stay with windows. you could look at the requested url and reroute it to where you want it to actually go. I'm just not familiar with the code of the original .htaccess file enough to transfer it to an ASP script. I'm looking into that option, and if i find it i will let everyone know here in case someone has the same situation as me. But, i will probabally just end up purchasing another hosting account that's linux based.